Low-Cost Dental Work?

What I think: I'm a wimp – no question about it. Any sign of a dental problem, I curl up into a fetal position, and with good cause. Over the years I've spent more time (and money) in a dentist's chair than I'd care to remember.

But when I read that, "roughly half a million Americans sought medical care abroad in 2006, of which 40 percent were dental tourists," I shook my head in disbelief. Can it really be?

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Obviously it's a new trend in family travel – turning an annual vacation into cost-effective dental care. According to industry experts the reasons are, 1.) higher demand for elective dental care like bonding and veneers, and 2.) the growing number of medical travel agents who vouch for the doctors they recommend.

I still ask: can it really be? Can you trust a travel agent to know the best an all-inclusive, great vacation spot – and also be savvy about who the best endocrinologist is?

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I'll admit it's rather enticing to think you can get a crown for $500 in Mexico, $360 in Hungary, instead of $750 to $1,000 here in the States. One guy had several teeth extracted, bone grafting and implants done in Mosonmagyarovar, Hungary, a hot spot for tooth travel, for a third of what he would have paid at home, and that included flights for him, his wife, 24 year-old daughter and 8 year-old son. They still had loads of time for sightseeing. Very impressive, indeed.

But as much as I hate paying huge fees to my oral surgeon and prosthodontist as I said, I'm too much a wuss have any work done more than 10 miles from home. Especially after an implant fell out three weeks after my local oral surgeon put it in—while I was vacationing in Abruzzi Italy. Needless to say, it sort of put a damper on the trip.

Somehow I don't see myself lounging on the beach anytime soon with an ice-pack on my swollen face! That just too much multi-tasking for me!